Outline

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Prior art search tools on the Internet and legal status of the results: a European Patent Office perspective

Retrieving relevant prior art from the Internet has become an important aspect of the search procedure at the European Patent Office, concerning all fields of technology. This article offers not only an overview of the tools available to the examiners, but also a detailed insight of the potentiality of such on-line searching for applicants and representatives, for efficiently identifying and retrieving pertinent documents by means of the existing search tools. Further, particular legal aspects in relation to Internet citations are presented, in the light of some decisions of the Technical Board of Appeal, with emphasis given to the issues related to the date of availability to the public of an Internet disclosure, its conformance and its possibly non-prejudicial nature.Prior art disclosures Internet search European Patent Office Search engines Google AltaVista Metasearch engines Vivisimo Article 54 EPC Article 55 EPC Legal consequences Availability to the public Conformance Date of availability Non-prejudicial disclosures

Patent inflation in Europe

Patent filings worldwide have been subject to a combined growth in terms of the number of applications filed and their size. This is putting patent systems under tremendous pressure, as witnessed by the evolution of backlogs at several patent offices. The present article presents an analysis of the evolution in patent voluminosity observed at the European Patent Office (EPO) over the past two decades. The results demonstrate that the average size of applications has doubled during this period and that the largest influence comes from applications filed via the PCT route and/or with a US priority application. Voluminosity indicators are clearly influenced by geographical origins and technological areas. The increasing voluminosity has a significant impact on EPO workload and processing efficiency. There is therefore a justified need for regulatory action. Evidence from recent changes in US patent fee policy is shown to have a significant knock-off effect on voluminosity indicators. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe